Are birds quiet in winter?
Birds make some sounds year round including flock notes, alarm notes and other call notes. The more noticeable bird "songs" are usually only heard during the breeding season in spring and summer as those birds defend territory and attract mates. In addition, most of "our" spring and summer bird singers migrate south for the winter.
Year-round resident birds do have year-round call notes and some of those do occasionally sing even in winter. Examples of those are Carolina wrens (pictured right), Northern cardinals, Black-capped Chickadees, and Tufted titmice.Various woodpeckers also vocalize year round.
In addition, some birds from the north come here for the winter and sing even when on winter territory. Among those are white-throated sparrows and juncos.
Below are some common bird sounds heard in the winter in Westchester County. |
Carolina wren |
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Some Online Bird Song Links
Songs and Calls of New York Birds
http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~tony/birds/
Cornell University's McCauley Library of Natural Sounds
http://www.animalbehaviorarchive.org/loginPublic.do
Pautuxet Wildlife Research Center Song Database
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/song.html
Past Feature -- Common Spring Bird Song
Links to find out more about common spring bird songs in Westchester
Past Feature -- Wild Turkeys
Links to find out more about wild turkeys in Westchester
Past Feature -- Cavity Nesters
Links to find out more about birds that nest in boxes
Past Feature -- Coyotes
Coyotes in New York
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/coyinny.htm
This web page from the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation explains current theories about the presence of coyotes in New York, offers useful information about their life history and also has practical advice for dog owners who may encounter coyotes.
Coyote Natural History
http://www.desertusa.com/june96/du_cycot.html
This web site is from "Desert USA" so it is somewhat oriented to western US habitats. However it does have several good pictures, images of coyote tracks, an online sound link of a coyote calling and more information about coyote habits.
Tim's Coyote Page
http://coyotim.tripod.com/coyote.htm
This web site, by an individual, has a wealth of information about coyotes (also western US oriented) including a variety of different coyote calls, quick facts (good for school reports) and even more photos.
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